Hearing assistance devices, such as hearing aids, are used to assist patients suffering hearing loss by transmitting amplified sounds to ear canals. Some hearing aids include magnetic sensors that pick up sounds transmitted as magnetic signals. A telecoil, also referred to as a T-coil, T-switch, or a telephone switch, is such a magnetic sensor in a hearing aid that senses a magnetic signal representing a sound and, in response, generates an electrical signal representing the sound. The electrical signal causes a receiver (speaker) of the hearing aid to deliver the sound to an ear canal of the wearer. The magnetic signal may be generated from, for example, a hearing aid compatible telephone, an assistive listening system, or an assistive listening device (ALD). A hearing aid may turn off its microphone when its telecoil is turned on, such that the wearer hears the sound represented by the magnetic signal but not acoustic noises. The telecoil also eliminates acoustic feedback associated with using the microphone of the hearing aid to listen to a telephone.
In one example, a hearing aid is worn in and/or around a patient's ear. Patients generally prefer that their hearing aids are minimally visible or invisible. Because adding or improving functionality of the hearing aid may require larger and/or additional components, there is a need to provide such components without substantially increasing the overall size of the hearing aid.